K0HWY

AFTER THE WAR

In 1945, Tex was asked by the Miller estate, to front a new band bearing the named of the late band leader. Tex accepted the offer but soon encountered problems with management. The new Glenn Miller Orchestra was more like the band Glenn had led in the AAF with a 19 member dance band supplemented by a 12 piece string section. Tex began trying to interweave bebop in with the original Miller sound and quickly came under fire from the estate.

In addition to Tex's personal fights, the industry itself was in turmoil. Beginning in 1945, the big bands quickly began disappearing as the swing era came to a crashing halt. In 1948, the Miller orchestra decided to eliminate the string section as part of a cost saving move. Beneke's name began to overshadow that of Miller and in 1950, he and the Miller estate parted. The hard feelings on the part of the Millers was obvious. In the 1954 movie The Glenn Miller Story starring James Stewart and June Allyson, Tex , a key figure in the Miller legacy didn't even get an honorable mention. Neither did vocalists Marion Hutton and Ray Eberle.

LATER YEARS

     Tex later formed an orchestra under his own name but big bands were a thing of the past. During the mid 1950s, he led and played with some smaller bands. From then on through the 1960s, he played with various bands, typically paying tribute to the bands of the 1940s. He also made guest appearances on various late night talk shows including the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

     In the early 1980s, PBS recorded a live concert called The Glenn Miller Band Reunion which featured many former Miller alumni. Tex was not among them. However, he did appear in a similiar tribute to Glenn Miller in the late 1980s. Glenn Miller: A Moonlight Serenade was hosted by Van Johnson and featured Tex along with former Miller vocalists Johnny Desmond and Marion Hutton. Tex also played regularly at Disneyland and fronted various Miller tribute pick-up bands well into the 1990s.

     In 1996, Tex was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame. He settled in Costa Mesa, California. Tex Beneke died on May 30, 2000 from respiratory failure at the age of 86

In his later years, Tex Beneke often fronted Miller tribute bands.

Tex Beneke was originally W2CKD. This QSL card dates back to 1956.

Home About Me The Chattanooga Choo Choo Station Station Log Local Repeaters

GORDON LEE BENEKE, K0HWY

     Gordon Lee "Tex" Beneke originally held the K0HWY call sign. Born in Fort Worth, Texas on February 12, 1914, Tex was playing saxophone when he was 9 years old. Although he began playing professionally in 1935 in Ben Young's band, it was his joining the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1938 that led to his ultimate fame as a musician and vocalist. At the time, the musicians in the Miller band were earning $50 a week. When Glenn approached Gordon about hiring him to work with the band, he got a surprising response. Beneke told Miller he would come aboard for $52.50, an offer which Miller subsequently accepted. Gordon was given the nickname "Tex" because of his Texas accent.

     In 1941, the Glenn Miller Orchestra went to Hollywood to film one of their only two feature movies, Sun Valley Serenade with starred John Payne, Sonja Henie and Lynn Bari. It was in this movie that Tex sang what would become the recoding industry's first gold record, Chattanooga Choo-Choo. In 1942, the band returned to Hollywood for Orchestra Wives which featured another Beneke vocal number, Kalamazoo.

     In the summer of 1942, the Glenn Miller enlisted in the United States Army Air Force effectively disolving the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Tex played briefly with the bands of Horace Heidt and Jan Savitt and later joined the United States Navy fronting a band in Oklahoma.

     Major Glenn Miller was reported as missing on December 15, 1944 after the small plane on which he was a passenger left Twinwood Farm Airfield in England enroute to Paris, France. Miller never arrived in Paris and was later listed as presumed dead.

Click play to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra performing Kalamazoo with Tex Beneke doing the lead vocal. This clip is from the 1942 movie, Orchestra Wives.

TEX AND AMATEUR RADIO

I'm still trying to obtain more about Tex's involvement in amateur radio but I've managed to come up with some interesting information through the help of a fellow amateur radio operator. Steve Melachrinos, W3HF, through the use of some old call books, was able to tell me that Tex first appeared in the Winter 1949-50 call book as W2CKD, the call sign he apparently held until the summer of 1957 when he becamel K0HWY. He kept that call until he passed away in May, 2000.